


A Betting Man

by coolbyrne



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Slibbs Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:20:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24171946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbyrne/pseuds/coolbyrne
Summary: Nick gets busted making a bet about Gibbs and Jack, but it just might be the impetus Gibbs needs. Slibbs.
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 35
Kudos: 174





	A Betting Man

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt for the fic was "Write a oneshot about the other characters talking about Slibbs". Day 6 of Slibbs Week.

“Twenty bucks says he takes her home.”

Tim shifted in the seat. “Of course he’s taking her home,” he told his stake-out partner. “They only came in one car.”

“Nah,” Torres said, “I mean, takes her home.” He waggled his eyebrows. “You know. _Home_.”

From the surveillance van, Bishop clarified, “He means-”

“I know what he means,” Tim quickly interjected. 

“Why else do you think he asked her to do the stake-out with him?”

McGee brushed off Nick’s question and the implication that went with it. “Because the day shift needs 2 teams and the night shift only needed one.” 

“So why didn’t he take one of us then?” Torres asked. “Pretty sure I can handle a stake-out on my own with Bishop in the van.”

“Uh, because you fell asleep on the Carter stake-out?” McGee said. 

He waved away the reminder. “I had a big plate of pasta for lunch. That was totally not my fault.”

“Can we, can we just focus on the job, please?” Tim’s question was a plea and an order. 

Things were quiet for all of 30 seconds before Nick asked, “You think he bought her those chocolates?”

Tim groaned, but Bishop jumped in over the earpiece, “I don’t think so. She was pretty upset later; I think she asked him and he said ‘no’.”

“But he kissed her!”

“He kisses everyone,” Tim argued. “I mean, you know what I mean.”

“Not like that,” Nick countered. “Besides, you weren’t there at Christmas.”

Bishop agreed with a loud, “Mmm-hmmm! Right there, on the street.”

“I didn’t know whether to look away or record it because no one would believe me.”

Bishop laughed. “Right? I mean, it’s kinda like watching my parents kiss, but it was really kinda sweet, too.”

“Like a Christmas miracle.” Tim groaned at Torres’ storytelling. “What?” he asked. “I don’t know how he convinced one woman to marry him, never mind the 8 or 10 or whatever.

“Five engagements, four marriages,” Bishop offered.

“Five. And now Jack? The biggest hardass in Washington, hell, maybe the state, gets a woman like that? If that’s not some kind of miracle, I don’t know what is. If I had lady problems, I’d be asking him what his secret was, that’s all I’m saying.”

“You promise?” Tim begged. “You promise that’s all you’re saying?”

“Well, I just want them to be happy,” Bishop stated. “He’s been alone too long and she’s good for him. And I like her.”

“Awww,” Torres cooed, “look who’s worried about Dad.”

“Shut up.”

“How about all three of ya shut up?”

Gibbs’ voice, loud and clear through all three earpieces, brought a dead silence over the air. 

“Bishop,” Nick whispered, “tell me we’re all having the same hallucination.”

When Bishop couldn’t find her voice, Tim squeaked out, “Uh, Boss?”

“Tell the IT guys these earpieces go a hell of a lot farther than they thought.”

“You’ve been listening the whole time?” Nick choked out.

“Ya think?” He didn’t wait to hear one of them say ‘Shit!’. “If our suspect’s slipped out the back while you three’ve been playing matchmaker, don’t bother comin’ in tomorrow.”

“Sure thing, Boss!” Tim promised.

Five minutes of silence went by before Torres whispered, “Do you think he’s turned it off?”

“We should probably assume he didn’t,” Bishop said, finally finding her voice.

…..

He had turned it off, and as Jack handed over hers as well, she looked out the windshield at the diner and said, “Well, he got that one wrong, huh?”

After handing over the reins to the team at 7 A.M, both Jack and Gibbs were tired, but wired enough to get something to eat. Halfway to the diner, they heard some banter between Nick and Tim, and Jack had playfully held up her finger to stop Gibbs from saying anything. She regretted it now. Gibbs hadn’t said a word, but she suspected it was more because of what his team had said than what she had suggested.

“The Earth never opens up and swallows you when you need it to,” she said. “I wonder why that is.”

“Jack.”

She made a move to unclip her seatbelt. “I can almost taste that coffee.”

But he wasn’t going to let it go that easily. 

“I didn’t know about Valentine’s Day.”

The belt slowly retracted through her hand until it was housed over her shoulder. “I know. You told me.”

“No, I mean, after. I didn’t know.” He looked out the window. “How you felt.”

His voice made her falter. “It’s fine, Gibbs, really.”

He chuckled, though there was no joy in it. “Nah. Hasn’t been for a while. Not for me.” He turned to look at her. “Especially not for you.”

She leaned back against the headrest. “I’m a big girl, Gibbs. Had a pretty good idea what I was getting myself into right from the beginning. Let myself do it anyway. That’s on me.”

As much as he appreciated her honesty, as raw as it was, he wasn’t going to let her shoulder all the responsibility. Looking out the window again, he put his elbow against the door and rubbed his chin with his finger. 

“You think you got all the time in the world,” he began, almost talking to himself. The chuckle returned, this time heavy with self-deprecation. “You’d think if anyone would know that’s bullshit, it’d be me.” The words weren’t coming to him in the way he wanted, but he kept on. “That Christmas meant a lot to me. I want you to know that.” Her eyes opened and she rolled her head to the side to look at him. “First time in a long time I spent it with someone I cared about. A long time.”

Unable to resist her nature, she reached over and took his hand in hers. “Me, too.”

Her touch surprised him, and his attention jumped to her. Despite her own emotions, she found space for his.

“Maybe I worry Torres is right,” he said. “Maybe I worry it’s a goddamn miracle. And there haven't been a hell of a lot of those in my life.”

Her eyes went to their hands. “‘You don’t waste good.’ Isn’t that one of your rules?” His surprise brought a moment of levity. “When I first came to NCIS, I heard all about ‘Gibbs’ Rules’. So I took it upon myself to compile them all together. Imagine my surprise when Bishop told me she had already done it. Handed me a print out.”

He thought about the young agent who protected him like a daughter. “Figured it’d be her.”

“She loves you in a way you have no idea. You think you do, but you don’t. And that applies to a lot of people who care about you. Because in all these years of worrying about wasting good, you always applied it outside yourself. But you’re good, too, Gibbs.”

He let her words settle. “Are you tellin’ me I’m wasted?”

She laughed at the pun but didn’t let him off the hook. “I’m telling you you’re depriving people the best of you, because you think you don’t deserve anything more than a miracle.” She paused to gather her thoughts and expose her heart. “I try so hard to not waste good, but every day I feel it slipping farther and farther away.”

He felt it in his chest. The pain in her words. But also the fear of her getting out of reach, and the right words always seemed to get lodged in his throat. Looking into eyes that only ever looked back at him with kindness and compassion, he went with, “Let me take you home.”

The conversation shift made her frown in confusion, but she said, “Okay.”

“No,” he replied with a shake of his head. “I mean-” His hand slid up into her hair, and her warm eyes turned almost fearful, as if the hope was too much, had been dashed too many times. He apologized with his lips, asking for a silent forgiveness in the way they brushed across hers. Her hand curled around his elbow, encouraging his touch and his kiss and it stoked the fire she had built the day he had met her. His fingers dug deeper into her hair and hers dug deeper into his jacket and all pretense of hesitation and uncertainty was swept aside by their newfound confidence and long-held want. When she pulled away for a breath, he followed, his mouth chasing and catching the one thing that made him want even more. His eagerness drew her beatific smile under his lips and her hand along his cheek, her thumb stroking his face. 

Without opening her eyes, she nuzzled against his jaw and said, “You mean you owe Nick 20 bucks.” 

The reminder of the bet teased a laugh from his lungs. “Figured you didn’t wanna make out in front of the diner.”

“Elaine would be mortified,” Jack agreed. “And yet somehow over the moon.”

He snuck in another kiss as he reached across for her seatbelt. Clicking it in, he turned the ignition, put the truck in reverse and headed for home.

_Home._

…..

-end.


End file.
